Answering Atheist Arguments: You Christians Are Stuck in the Bronze Age!

The Reason Rally has inspired me to write a new section on my blog. Every Tuesday I plan on looking at a common atheist argument and responding to it in a quick paragraph to show why it doesn’t work in the argument against Christianity or the belief in God. Atheists, especially the ones I met at the Reason Rally, use a lot of strong and angry rhetoric. Quite often it is just to score a rhetorical point, but can be easily refuted. These are not arguments for Christianity; these are just simple refutations of common arguments against Jesus or the belief in God.

Today’s argument is extremely popular in atheist circles.  It has a couple of rhetorical advantages that make it a valuable weapon in the utility belt of anyone who has a gripe with God, or who wants to undermine Biblical morality.  Though this tool can be useful against many religions, it is utterly useless against the unique message of freedom, preached by Christianity.

How often have you heard an atheist quote an old law from Leviticus or Deuteronomy and try to embarrass you. They’ll say something like, “Do you believe we should stone people for committing adultery?  After all, in Leviticus 20:10 that’s what it says!  You Christians believe in Bronze Age laws!”  The implication being that if you really believed the Bible, you would believe we should stone adulterers, and if you do, then you are barbaric.  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, gotcha Christians!  It’s worth mentioning that there are hundreds of possible ways to say the same thing on the atheistic side, which is one of he reasons this is so popular.  This is a formidable challenge to religions like Judaism and Islam, but this should not worry a Christian at all.  Here’s why:

Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is God in human form.  The reason He became a man was to accomplish the Law/rules in the Old Testament perfectly.  He was perfectly sinless.  He then willingly offered his sinless record up as a sacrifice to the God the Father for you, thereby offering you a perfect record in exchange for your punishment, due to you by your imperfect record.  This exchange is permanent for those who put their trust in Jesus and what that he did for them.

One of the side effects of this exchange is that those who take advantage of this offer, in God’s eyes, have perfectly fulfilled all of his Law.  Leviticus, Deuteronomy, the entire thing has been accomplished by Jesus, credited to the Christian.  This means that Christians are totally and completely free from Old Testament obligations.  We are not accountable for fulfilling the law ourselves because in God’s eyes we have already done so.  Notice, that this exchange is not based on anything the you do, its all about what Jesus has already done.   You don’t need to clean up your act, you don’t need to be a better person, you don’t need to do anything except trust in what Jesus said and did.  This is a great offer.  Its total and complete freedom from the weighty requirement of perfection under the Law of the Old Testament.

Now does this mean that Christians just do whatever it is they want to do?  Not at all.  The morality in the Old Testament is still valid, but the ceremonial aspects  and punishments are no longer in play for us.  In other words, what was moral then, still has the same moral value now.  Take the given example of adultery.  In the Old Testament, adultery is identified as wrong.  Today adultery is still wrong.  The moral value doesn’t change and if I love and trust Jesus the way I say I do, I should not commit adultery.  If I were to commit adultery at some point in the future I would be doing so in a way contrary to my trust in Jesus.  I can tell you honestly that its hard to even write/think about doing this and as I write about it I know how devastated I would be if I were commit this act.  The important thing is that if I did this, that sin would be covered by what Jesus did on the cross, and in God’s eyes I remain perfect. 

If I were to commit this act and it didn’t bother me, or maybe I did it again, and again and I felt just fine about it, that is a sign that I do not trust Jesus at all, and I am not taking advantage of the offer.  I would be spiritually dead.  Despite saying I trust in Jesus, I have shown by my actions that I do not.  The punishment prescribed in the Old Testament (stoning)  is not in play anymore since Jesus already fulfilled that Law, but the eternal punishment for that act is still death.  If I truly take advantage of God’s offer, I will trust Jesus more than I trust anything else, including my own desires, and so I will want to do the things he says I should do.  I will no longer be a slave to my immoral desire to commit adultery.  I will be free.  That’s the Gospel.  It is not about following rules.  It is about taking advantage of freedom, through trust in Jesus.

The next time someone tries to embarrass you by quoting Old Testament law.  You can simply say, “I can see you have a gripe with the Old Testament law. We can talk about that if you want, but Jesus fulfilled that law and I am no longer under its obligations.  I hold to the Gospel.”   Morality is the same, it never changed.  Ceremonial law, ritual law, dietary law and punishments, are no longer in play, though the ultimate punishment for immorality remains death, unless you are covered by what Jesus did on your behalf.

Here are some verses that can help you make your point on this amazingly unique teaching of freedom in Jesus:

"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace,"  - Romans 6:14

"know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified," – Galatians 2:16

"The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith," – Galatians 3:24

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree,’" – Galatians 3:13

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," – Romans 8:1

“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached,” – Jesus in Luke16:16

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” – Jesus in Matthew 5:17

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. – Galatians 5:1